Controversy over a tip credit bill continued Tuesday as opposing sides on the matter of eliminating the tip credit in Montgomery County clashed at the county council building.
Police arrived on the scene outside the council building after tensions escalated among some. According to the Rockville City Police Department (RCPD), police responded to the council building for a reported assault in progress. Two females had engaged in a physical confrontation, and both declined to pursue charges.
Servers and bartenders against the tip credit elimination marched from the Cambria Hotel in Rockville to the county council building, where they were soon met by a group rallying for One Fair Wage. They gathered ahead of a county council public hearing on the proposed bill to phase out the tip credit.
Last week, servers and bartenders from Montgomery and Prince George’s (PG) counties rallied in Largo against the proposed legislation from both counties. It was tabled in PG County on Thursday.
Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando introduced the bill last month to phase out the tip credit by 2028. Councilmember Kristin Mink is cosponsor. Jawando previously said the bill will pay tipped workers a “full minimum wage with tips on top” and that “Every worker deserves the dignity of being paid a fair wage.”
According to the Restaurant Association of Maryland, under the proposal, tipped employees would have to be paid the full minimum wage instead of the current lower rates — $4 per hour in Montgomery County — plus tips. Restaurants “will be forced” to raise prices and institute mandatory service charges to pay for increased base wages, RAM states, and research shows “customers will not tip on top of a service charge.”
According to county council documents, the tip credit represents the amount of the minimum wage an employee is expected to make in tips. The current credit is the hourly minimum wage minus $4.
